by Haley Jacobs
Bear out of the Blue
The Lone Pine Lodge, Book 1
Haley Jacobs
Brookside Press
Contents
Bear out of the Blue
Bear Out of the Blue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
A Note from the Author
Wolf At The Wedding
The Lone Pine Lodge Series by Haley Jacobs
Bear out of the Blue
By
Haley Jacobs
Bear Out of the Blue
Copyright © 2017 Brookside Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author.
Published by Brookside Press
1
“A text! Kevin broke up with me with a text. Can you fucking believe it?” Julia’s eyes were red from a long night of crying.
“I know, hon,” said Molly, “We’ve been talking about it since 9:00 last night.” The early morning sun had just peaked over the hills, flooding Phoenix, Arizona with an unwelcome glare.
Molly received the call from Julia the previous night, and came right over. She couldn’t say that she was surprised that Kevin had ended it the way he did. After a six year on-again, off-again engagement that included at least two affairs, nothing Kevin managed to do to Julia came as a shock. Asshole.
Molly looked at Julia. “So it’s decision time: yes or no?”
Before Kevin’s most recent attempt to exit Julia’s life, they had booked a romantic weekend at the Lone Pine Lodge at High Mountain National Park. Julia had loved bears since she was a little girl, and had drawn pages and pages of them in her sketchbook. The hotel and air travel had been paid well in advance on Julia’s credit card. Kevin swore he’d pay her back—sometime.
“No,” said Julia, waving her arms, “I mean…yes…I mean…” She looked over at the packed bags by the door.
Molly looked her square in the eye. “Go. You need the break, and a whole weekend of alone time with your sketchbook would do you good. Besides,” Molly gave her one of her special conspiratorial looks, “You might find yourself a nice, hot ranger.”
Julia smiled for the first time in about fourteen hours. “He’ll have to like curves,” She said. “And I guess you’re right. It’s way too late to get a refund.” She looked at Molly. “You wouldn’t want to go with me, would you?”
Molly laughed. “My name’s not Julia Pratchett or Kevin Johnson. I don’t think the TSA would take too kindly to having me there.”
“So I guess I’m on my own now.”
“Hey, that’s not such a bad thing, now, is it? Bring me back a nice teddy bear, would you?” Molly grinned. “Or a nice hunky park ranger.”
Jake was grading papers when the phone rang.
“Grizzly Bear Recovery Program, this is Jake speaking.”
There was a moment of silence on the other line. “Uh…Jake? Hi. This is Barbara. Barbara Gravier from High Mountain National—“
“Barbara! Good God, how long has it been? It’s so great to hear from you! What have you been up to these days? Have you heard from…”
Jake always had a disarming way of getting right to the point. “Ron? No.”
“It figures,” said Jake. “But then again, neither have I and I’m his brother.”
“What about you? Have you found your mate yet?”
“Nah—too busy with school and field research.”
One of the nice things about dealing with fellow shifters, thought Jake, is instantly recognizing your mate. He and Barbara were never a match, so the whole sexual tension thing was never an issue between them. He always felt Barbara was like a sister. Of course she wasn’t a bear shifter like him, but as a fellow shifter they always understood each other.
Jake lowered his voice, “You, uh, still involved with the Shifter Council? They never took kindly to me, but then again, they’re not too keen on us bears in general.”
“I had a bit of a run-in with them awhile back, but I still keep in touch with some of our old colleagues.” Barbara hesitated. “Jake, I need your help here at the park.”
“Sure! What can I do for you?”
“We’ve got a rogue bear here who’s causing us some trouble, and—“
“—and you want me to talk some sense into him, right?” Jake let out an exasperated sigh. “I really don’t have time, Barbara. The semester is just starting, and I’m just slammed.”
“Jake, he’s terrorizing the park guests. We’ve tranquilized and relocated him three times in the past month, but he keeps coming back. This morning, he tore through the lobby of the Lone Pine.”
“Anybody hurt?”
“No, thank God, but it’s really only a matter of time until he does.”
“Barbara, I don’t know…”
“Please, Jake! We really need your help.” Jake heard the desperation in her voice.
“Well…”
“If nothing else, could you do it for an old friend?”
Jake knew she had him cornered. Barbara had saved his life when they were grad students, and kept him from doing something truly stupid that would have blown his cover as a bear shifter. He owed her, and he knew it.
“All right. I’ll help, but I have to be back for class on Monday morning. Can you get me there and back?”
“I have your ticket booked. There’s a Forest Service truck waiting outside. The Ranger will take you home so you can pack. Your flight leaves at 10:00. You have a layover in Anchorage.”
Jake looked out the window of his second floor office, and sure enough, there was a pale green pickup truck idling in the parking lot. Pure Barbara. But then again, that picky attention to detail is exactly what you would expect from a cat shifter.
2
This is crazy, thought Julia. This is crazy, crazy, crazy!
She was packed into a tiny puddle-jumper, waiting in the late summer heat at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The first leg of the trip had been an ordeal itself.
She had hardly slept and she was cranky. Once she had made up her mind to go on this trip, there was little time to do much else other than shower, change and dash off to the airport. The TSA line was way longer than she anticipated, and the flight to Anchorage had run out of coffee two seats ahead of her.
To make matters worse, the plane was stuck on the tarmac for an hour, so she had to make a mad dash to this miserable excuse for an airplane. Propellers. It figured. Would this flimsy thing really make it off the ground? And the cabin was really, really cramped. She hated flying, and tried to avoid it whenever possible.
Well, thought Julia, because Kevin, (asshole) isn’t here, the seat next to me is open. At least I won’t have to make small talk with some stranger.
Her phone dinged in her purse. It was a text from Molly, “HAVE U MET YR HOT RANGER YET???”
She groaned. “Jesus, Molly, give it a rest!” she said under her breath, and switched off her phone.
Julia heard the sole flight attendant talking to an unknown passenger. “You’re in luck, Mr. Richards, there’s one seat left—B17.” Julia looked down at her ticket: A17.
Fuck!
Julia lifted her head and saw nothing but a finely tuned set of pectoral muscles that looked like they were going to burst out of the polo shirt that contained them. He was huge. Julia looked up past the
finely chiseled chin—dimpled, by the way—and caught the most sapphire blue eyes she had ever seen, set off by a thicket of jet black hair.
She caught her breath, as a surge of heat flushed her cheeks. He was staring right at her.
Jake stared down at the scowling and blushing woman seated by the window. She had blonde hair and liquid brown eyes, and she was deliciously curvy. But there was something else. A smell, like vanilla and honey. A smell that was both familiar and exotic.
“Your mate,” said his inner bear.
Jake’s heart was hammering against his chest. He placed his duffel bag in the overhead bin and sat down. The plane’s seats were cramped and he couldn’t avoid lightly brushing his knee with hers. There was a jolt of electricity between them. Jake struggled to regain composure.
“Hi,” he said, “I’m Jake.”
“Julia,” she said.
“He moved his knees to try to avoid contact, but because of his well-muscled thighs, there was only so much he could do.
Julia crossed her arms. She was not ready to meet someone new. She had just been dumped by via a text message! This was going to be the longest 50-minute flight in history.
What in the hell’s the matter with you? Julia said to herself, He’s gorgeous!
She began to smell a faint musky odor of sweat. Was he nervous? With her? Really?
“So…,” said Jake, “You’re…going to High Mountain?”
“What a lame-ass question, Jake,” said his bear, “Of COURSE she’s going to High Mountain! GET TO KNOW HER!”
Julia nodded. Was he really hitting on her?
Julia turned away from him and pulled a book from her purse. There was a picture of a bare-chested man in a cape, and “Romance of the Vampire” printed on the cover. The engine started with a deafening roar, first one propeller, then the other. Soon the plane lurched out of the gate. She could still feel the heat of Jake’s knee against hers, but she still couldn’t bring herself to pull it away.
Once they were airborne, Jake took out his laptop out and was pounding away at some document, and would occasionally steal a glance at Julia when he though she wasn’t looking. The heat she felt when she first saw him hadn’t left. If anything, it was increasing.
His computer screen read Transboundary Habits of Ursos Arctos Horribilis. Julia shook her head, and went back to her book. There was warmth between her legs.
Good God, she thought, am I horny? What in the hell is wrong with me?
“Say something, Professor!” Jake’s bear was beyond annoyed. “Well?”
“Well what?”
Jake’s bear sniffed. “She’s receptive. Go make cubs. Now.” His bear had little patience for the human way of doing things.
“I can’t just have sex with her on the airplane! It takes getting to know and understand each other, and at this rate she’ll never even talk to me.”
There was a bump as the plane dropped suddenly. Worried gasps ran through the passengers. Without realizing it, Julia had grabbed onto Jakes arm and buried her head into one very large, very muscular shoulder.
“Sorry, folks,” said the voice over the intercom, “We just hit a bit of turbulence, but we’re expecting a smooth flight from here on out.”
Good, thought Julia, I can relax now.
But she couldn’t seem to let go of Jake’s arm. He looked over at her and smiled.
Oh no, she thought, not again!
“Sorry!” she muttered, and went back to her book. There was something going on between them. Something very special. But Julia couldn’t figure out what it was.
This is crazy, thought Julia. This is crazy, crazy, crazy!
3
Julia headed for the baggage claim, more than a little rattled. Jake had left the plane as quickly as he could and there seemed to be a certain nervousness about him. Julia was attracted to him, there was no doubt about it, but was he attracted to her?
The baggage claim—if you could call it that—consisted of a cleared-out area next to the gift shop selling t-shirts, coffee mugs and stuffed animals, all of them in the shape of, or with the picture of a snarling grizzly bear. She had lost sight of Jake. The last she saw of him, he was walking down the tarmac, and the shape of his perfect buttocks as he walked away was something she would never forget. She picked up her rolling bag and headed with the other tourists for the curb where the shuttles to the Lone Pine Lodge would pick them up. She saw Jake again, standing slightly away from everybody else.
Her phone buzzed with a text, probably Molly.
Any hot rangers NOW????
“Not a ranger, exactly,” she said to herself looking at Jake. “But if he’s going to the same place you are, and he’s probably alone. Which is kind of weird.” She straightened herself up. “OK, it’s now or never.” She picked up her bag and walked toward Jake. He glanced up and smiled as she got nearer. A pale green Forest Service truck pulled up with a screech, and a tall, blonde woman in an khaki Park Ranger uniform came rocketing out of the driver’s side.
“JAKE!” the ranger cried, throwing her arms around him.
“BARBARA!” cried Jake lifting her up in the air.
FUCK! thought Julia.
The ride to the Lone Pine Lodge was nothing short of stunning. Still, Julia was wondering if she had made a mistake by coming. The balding middle-aged man in the next seat was clearly coming on to her, despite the stink-eye he was getting from his wife. “Howard…,” the man’s wife muttered under her breath at various points in the conversation. He chatted at her most of the way up the mountain, mostly about how many units he managed to sell in the past quarter. Units of what, Julia never learned.
They arrived at the Lone Pine Lodge. Julia stepped out of the shuttle bus and felt the cool, bracing air against her face. The pines had a sweet, almost vanilla fragrance, and a gentle breeze kissed her neck and teased her long, blonde hair. Traveling here had been an ordeal to be sure, but now that she was here, her spirit calmed as she breathed in the clean, sharp air. For the first time this trip, she felt excited to be here. She thought about her sketchbook and pencils in her bag. She couldn’t wait to pull them out and try to capture what she was experiencing.
Julia rolled her bag into the lobby and waited in line. The Lone Pine Lodge was one of those glorious, old hotels that seem to only exist inside National Parks. It was huge and luxurious, but still kept the look and feel of a rustic log cabin. The lobby was spacious, but for some reason, there wasn’t any furniture. That was odd. She looked down and saw deep scratch marks throughout wood floor. By the looks of them, they were recent.
She went up to the man at the desk—Ryan was his name. He was clean-shaven and wiry, and his head tended to twitch to the side in an almost bird-like way.
“Julia Pratchett,” she said, “I’m here for 3 nights, leaving Monday morning.”
“Reservation for two?” asked Ryan, wrinkling his brow.
“One. Kevin Johnson won’t be coming.” Julia’s face darkened.
“Oh.” The bird-like man twitched his head to the side. “I’m sorry to hear.”
Julia shook it off. “Never mind. What happened to the lobby? Was there a wild party or something?”
Ryan twitched again. He lowered his voice, “It was a bear.”
“A BEAR?”
Ryan shushed her. “Don’t worry. It’s only happened twice in the 113 years since the Lone Pine opened. The bears were here first, after all. And we’ve called in an expert.” Ryan got a quizzical look on his face and put his hand gently on Julia’s arm. “You should meet him. You really should.”
Julia didn’t know quite what to make of Ryan, but she felt he eyes peering into her soul. He seemed like a nice enough man, but he was unsettling at the same time.
“You’re in Room 612,” said Ryan. “I’ll have someone bring your bags up to you. And you really should sign up for the special Bear Tour. It leaves at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Can I count you in?”
“Sure…,” said Julia hesitantly. This wa
s one strange man.
“Wonderful!” said Ryan, “And don’t forget to bring your pencils and sketchpad.”
Julia was about half way up the grand staircase when she froze.
Wait. How in the hell did he know she was an artist?
Jake plopped himself on the couch in Barbara’s office. Barbara sat behind her desk. The nameplate read: BARBARA GRAVIER, PARK SUPERINTENDENT. She was the boss, which didn’t surprise Jake at all. Barbara was always at the top of every class she took, and often answered questions before their professors even got them out.
Barbara was from an old family of cat shifters in the bayous of Louisiana—pumas to be exact. She still retained her Cajun drawl, even after years here in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. There weren’t a lot of puma shifters around, which is why they tended to keep to themselves. They were a crafty lot, and even Barbara herself somehow managed to outmaneuver her father to get out of an arranged marriage to be with her mate.
“So you still haven’t heard from Ron, huh?” asked Jake. He’d asked her over the phone, but she hadn’t given him an adequate answer. “I know he misses you.”
Barbara glared at him. Jake’s brother Ron. Of all the shifters on Planet Earth, why did her true mate have to be Ron?
“You know that’s never going to work, right?” said Barbara.
“You should look him up on Facebook. His band’s been touring, and they’re—“
“Enough!”
“Okay, okay…” Jake raised his hands. “So what’s the deal with this rogue bear?”
